2021 Nashville Superspeedway, Ally 400

I don’t know about you, but I compare the All-Star Race to the Pro-Bowl in football. Does anyone really want to watch it? It’s so hard to follow as they change the format almost every year and nobody really knows what’s going on and it’s really drawn out. Maybe some of you are excited to watch it, but I for one don’t waste my time. Besides, starting a race on Sunday night that really means nothing to the series doesn’t make it something I have as a top priority.

ALLY 400

This week the series gets back to points racing at a new venue for this tier of the sport. The venue is the Nashville Superspeedway, and the race is the Ally 400. This is a mile and a third track with 14 degree banking in the corners. It is also a concrete track which will have a bearing on tire wear. There was some testing done on tires with three of the Cup series drivers taking part in that test. Hopefully they have a good tire that wears well and we don’t see everyone blowing tires early in runs.

Kyle Larson: I have to pick Kyle to win this week as he is the hottest driver on the circuit right now. He has shown he runs well on all types of tracks each and every week and this week should be no different. The Hendrick cars still look like the cream of the crop followed by the Gibbs and Penske cars. The Stewart-Haas teams seem to be behind a little bit right now.

Martin Truex Jr.: Martin has been the second most consistent driver and this is his type of track. I think he’s going to give Kyle a run for his money this week. He faltered a little bit at Charlotte a few weeks ago, but they should know where they went wrong by now and could have used the All-Star race to do some testing to try and get everything back on track.

Brad Keselowski: Brad won two Xfinity Series races here although they haven’t run that series since the 2011 season. This team has been off and on this year and with rumors that Brad might be moving to Roush next season as a part owner, I don’t know what to think right now. Maybe he’s a bit distracted, but he seems to be a driver who’s really focused once they get behind the wheel.

Kevin Harvick: Kevin is another driver who won two Xfinity races at Nashville in the past. This team, along with all the other Stewart-Haas teams has struggled a bit this year. One good thing is that Kevin really knows how to take care of his tires and should have a good long run car. The questions are how are the tires going to hold up for the rest of the field and are we going to get those long runs?

Denny Hamlin: Denny ran five Xfinity races at this track and finished in the top ten in all of them. Even though he didn’t win any of those races he has shown that he can run consistently well here. Although those races were at least ten years ago and the track has changed quite a bit in that time, the configuration is still the same which gives him a little advantage over those who have never races here.

Kyle Busch: Kyle won a race here in ten tries in the Xfinity Series. I’m still not sure if this team has everything quite figured out yet, but they’re close. Once they put the last couple of pieces in place they are going to go on a run and give the rest of the drivers someone else to worry about each and every week.

Joey Logano: Joey won one of those races from the past in four tries while finishing in the top ten in three of them. I think he’s going to have a really good car this week and he’s someone you can take a chance on if you don’t want to go with Kyle and Martin as my two favorites to win this race. If they falter and Joey finishes top five it could be a real helper in your league.

Austin Dillon: Austin has run two races here in the other series and finished top ten in both of them. He has shown some flashes of what he can do this year although he hasn’t been real consistent. This is the type of track where he does the most damage and has his best runs. Might be someone else to use to save starts of other drivers seeing we don’t have much data on this track.

Matt DiBenedetto: Another driver who has races here in the past. Although it was only one race, Matt still came away with a top ten finish. This team has been improving each week and could very well contend for another top ten finish in this race.

DRIVER GROUP GAME FANTASY NASCAR PICKS FOR NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY

Driver Group Game Group A

• Martin Truex Jr.
• Joey Logano

Driver Group Game Group B

• Kyle Larson
• Austin Dillon
• Matt DiBenedetto
• Tyler Reddick

Driver Group Game Group C

• Chase Briscoe
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

MY TOP-5 OVERALL AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY

1. Kyle Larson
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Joey Logano
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Brad Keselowski

Dark Horse: Tyler Reddick

Stay Away From: Bubba Wallace

Big 18: Joey Logano